Three things caught my eyes in recent weeks concerning historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs.

No. 1: A story earlier this week about SC State University and other Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) schools debating whether to give up their automatic berth in the NCAA Division I playoff field. Instead they would play the champion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in a game called the Legacy Bowl. The two conferences would split $3 million in television revenue -- badly needed resources at their respective schools.

No. 2: Anything we publish concerning change at Johnson C. Smith University. Whether it’s change to JCSU’s graduation ceremony, plans to open a high school on campus or plans to launch a spiritual life center, any hint of tinkering with tradition is certain to trigger debate among the school’s alumni. (See reader comments related to these stories).

But change is just what HBCUs require if they are to survive, according to a recent opinion piece published on AJC.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website.

John Fitzgerald Gates, a graduate of Morehouse College and principal of Criticality Management Consulting, said it’s time to ask whether HBCUs are “sufficiently self-critical and adaptive."

He writes:

Given their long-standing mission to educate underprepared students, HBCUs should be at the forefront of curricula, teaching and student-advising innovations.

Given their century and a half of underfunding and having to do more with less, HBCUs should be leaders in institutional efficiency, cost-sharing and partnerships.

And given their reliance on public funding, HBCUs should be experts at garnering federal support for their initiatives.

But none of these is so.

Gates named Spellman College as a noted exception. “But Spelman did not get there without a persistent effort,” he said.

Oh, as for No. 3: Click here to find out.
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